Alex Ovechkin scored twice for the Washington Capitals in a 5-3 win against the visiting New York Rangers on Tuesday.
The Washington captain now has 857 career goals, 37 behind Wayne Gretzky for the all-time NHL record.
Aliaksei Protas had a goal and two assists and Connor McMichael and Nic Dowd also scored for the Capitals. Rasmus Sandin and Dylan Strome each had two assists, and Logan Thompson made 16 saves for the victory.
Will Cuylle, Chris Kreider and Filip Chytil scored while Igor Shesterkin stopped 41 shots for the Rangers.
Ovechkin kicked off a wild stretch of scoring between the teams at 3:23 of the first period. Strome sent a backhand feed to Ovechkin at the top of the left circle for a wrist shot that beat Shesterkin five-hole for a 1-0 lead.
The Rangers responded 58 seconds later. Kaapo Kakko poked the puck away from Sandin along the wall in the neutral zone and collected it before dishing a backhand on a two-on-one to Cuylle, who scored blocker side from the slot at 4:21.
Ovechkin’s second of the night put the Capitals back in front 2-1. Ovechkin took a pass from Protas down low and snapped it over Shesterkin’s right pad at 5:10.
It was the first multigoal game of the season for Ovechkin, who doubled his goal total for the campaign.
McMichael made it 3-1 at 8:58 of the first. Taylor Raddysh’s shot from the right circle toward the net deflected off New York defenseman Victor Mancini to McMichael on the backdoor for the tip-in.
The Rangers scored on a power play 30 seconds into the second period to cut the deficit to 3-2. Kreider was at the side of the net to deflect Mika Zibanejad’s shot behind Thompson.
Protas put the Capitals ahead 4-2 at 4:30 of the middle period. After winning a puck battle in the corner, Protas sent it to Sandin, who took it to the left circle before passing it to Protas, who drove to the net for the tip-in.
Chytil responded for New York 14 seconds later, tipping Mancini’s pass by the stick of Thompson to pull the visitors within 4-3.
Dowd scored an empty-net goal at 19:24 of the third period for the 5-3 final.
–Field Level Media
